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Why was this Chinese boy tied to a motorbike and dragged naked through the streets?

Internet users outraged by father who says 12-year-old was being punished for stealing money from his family and playing truant

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A video of a naked boy covered in welts and being pulled through the streets on the end of a rope attached to his father’s motorbike has sparked outrage online. Photo: Handout
Alice Yanin Shanghai

A video of a naked 12-year-old Chinese boy covered in welts being dragged through the streets on the end of a rope attached to his father’s motorbike has sparked outrage online.

The incident happened on a rainy Friday afternoon in Zhaotong, a city in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, according to a report by local news portal Yunnan.cn.

The footage shows members of the public intervening to end the ordeal for the child, who can be shaking with cold.

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The angry crowd then ordered the father to remove his jacket and give it to his son, which he did, the report said.

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A member of the public talks to the boy’s father as he sits on his motorbike. An angry crowd ordered the dad to give his jacket to his shivering son. Photo: Handout
A member of the public talks to the boy’s father as he sits on his motorbike. An angry crowd ordered the dad to give his jacket to his shivering son. Photo: Handout

In defence of his actions, the father was quoted as saying that he was punishing the child for stealing 100 yuan (US$15) from the family coffers, spending the previous night playing outside and failing to go to school.

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